Grammaire of lesson 3

Unit 3: Grammar

In this unit, we will cover the verb "to be" 是, the interrogative words 什么 and 谁, the possessive particle 的, the construction of Chinese names, and the difference between 学生 and 同学.

The verb "to be" 是

The Mandarin Chinese verb "to be" 是 shì is used much less frequently than in French.

Do you remember the stative verbs we saw in Unit 1?

These include 好 hǎo "to be good", 客气 kèqi "to be polite", 老 lǎo "to be old", and 高兴 gāoxìng "to be happy/pleased".

There are 2 rules to remember about these verbs:
1- In affirmative sentences, they have a comparative meaning. Example: 他老, "He is old compared to...". To remove the comparison, you must add the adverb "very" 很 hěn: 他很老, "He is (very) old."
2- Stative verbs already include the meaning of "to be". Therefore, you must not use the verb 是 shì with stative verbs.

The following sentence is therefore incorrect: 他是老。
This is one of the most common mistakes made by French-speaking students.

The verb "to be" 是 shì is only used with nouns:
他是老师。 Tā shì lǎoshī. He is a teacher.
他是谁？ Tā shì shéi? Who is he?
她是我的同学。 Tā shì wǒ de tóngxué. She is my classmate.

Incomplete questions: 什么 and 谁

In the previous unit, we saw the complete question, i.e., a question that can be answered with yes or no. This type of question is formed by adding 吗 ma at the end of a sentence.
Example: 你是老师吗？ Nǐ shì lǎoshī ma? Are you a teacher?

An incomplete question is a question that cannot be answered with yes or no. It is a question that requires additional information. Incomplete questions use interrogative words.

Here are the two interrogative words in this unit:

什么 shénme means "what" or "which". It is used to ask for information about objects or concepts.
谁 shéi means "who". It is used to ask for information about people.

The key thing to remember about incomplete questions is that there is no subject-verb inversion: the interrogative word occupies the same position as the answer word.

他是谁？ Tā shì shéi? Who is he?
他是李老师。 Tā shì Lǐ lǎoshī. He is Teacher Li.

你叫什么名字？ Nǐ jiào shénme míngzi? What is your name?
我叫月月。 Wǒ jiào Yuèyue. My name is Yuèyue.

Personal pronouns 他 and 她

In Chinese, the pronouns "he" and "she" are pronounced exactly the same: tā. However, they are written with different characters:

他 tā: he (masculine)
她 tā: she (feminine)

This written distinction is relatively recent in the history of Chinese. It was introduced in the early 20th century under the influence of European languages. In speech, context makes it clear whether one is referring to a man or a woman.

Summary of the personal pronouns we have seen so far:
我 wǒ: I, me
你 nǐ: you
他 tā: he, him
她 tā: she
我们 wǒmen: we
你们 nǐmen: you (plural)
他们 tāmen: they (masculine or mixed)
她们 tāmen: they (feminine)

The possessive particle 的

的 de is a possessive particle. It connects the modifier (additional information) to the modified noun (what we are talking about) according to the following structure:

Example: 老师的名字 lǎoshī de míngzi the teacher's name: what we are talking about is a name 名字, but not just any name. The modifier, which provides additional information (teacher), specifies the modified noun: it is the teacher's name, not someone else's.

It is also called a "possessive" particle, but possession is only one aspect of determination. The modifier can be a word, but also a phrase (which is often translated as a relative clause in French).

For example: 叫月月的学生 the student(s) who is/are called Yuèyue

Note that the structure is the reverse of French. This is an important point for distinguishing less obvious word groups:
老师的学生 lǎoshī de xuéshēng the teacher's students
学生的老师 xuéshēng de lǎoshī the students' teacher

This also works with personal pronouns to form possessive adjectives:
我的: my
你的: your
他的: his
她的: her

For example:
我的老师 wǒ de lǎoshī: my teacher
她的同学 tā de tóngxué: her classmate

The modified noun can be omitted (implied or unknown). The possessive adjectives then become possessive pronouns:
我的: mine
李老师的: Li Teacher's

Construction of Chinese names

In Chinese, the family name (姓 xìng) always comes before the given name (名字 míngzi). This is the opposite of French.

Example: 李明 Lǐ Míng — 李 is the family name and 明 is the given name.

Chinese family names are usually composed of a single character (there are a few rare exceptions with two characters). Given names are composed of one or two characters.

To address someone politely, you use the family name followed by a title:
李老师 Lǐ lǎoshī: Teacher Li
王先生 Wáng xiānsheng: Mr. Wang

Difference between 学生 and 同学

学生 xuéshēng means "student" or "pupil". It is a general term for someone who studies.
Example: 他是学生。 Tā shì xuéshēng. He is a student.

同学 tóngxué means "classmate". Literally, 同 means "same" and 学 means "study": these are people who study together. This term implies a relationship between the people.
Example: 她是我的同学。 Tā shì wǒ de tóngxué. She is my classmate.

In summary, 学生 refers to the status (being a student/pupil), while 同学 refers to a relationship (studying in the same place). A teacher will use 同学 to address their students, often in the plural: 同学们 tóngxuémen.

同学 can also be used as a title, like professor, Mr., or Mrs.: 李同学 "Student Li".

You can easily recognize 同学 when used as a title because it is preceded by a family name.